PHILADELPHIA — Thirty minutes before the first pitch, the brass in Citizens Bank Park video room dusted off the reel-to-reel and cued up a production called, “Meet the Phillies.”

After casting off three players in the last four days, and calling up just as many to fill those available roster spots, it only seemed apropos that the Phillies reacquaint their fans with some unfamiliar faces following their six-game road trip.

Some of those newbies contributed to what amounted to a series-opening 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Kyle Kendrick pitched four innings in spot-start duty, following the pregame trade of Joe Blanton to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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New guys Nate Schierholtz (single, RBI) and B.J. Rosenberg (two innings of shutout relief) did their part, in trying to keep the Phillies from exacerbating the National League’s second-worst home record. Ultimately, the Phillies couldn’t push across the tying run – even with their bullpen posting four consecutive shutout frames.

Without Blanton, who departed for L.A. prior to gametime, the Phillies gave the ball to Kendrick – a viable candidate for the start. He entered the game with a 13-inning scoreless streak as a starter, and a career-best 21-inning scoreless span overall.

That effectiveness didn’t carry over.

Four outs into his outing, Kendrick served up the 100th home run of Justin Upton’s career – a towering blast well into the seats in left field. Kendrick held serve until the fourth, with Jason Kubel and Upton eventually coming around to score after a double and a single, respectively.

Chase Utley trimmed the Phillies’ deficit by one in the bottom of the fourth inning, slinging his sixth homer of the season into the right-field bleachers to make it a 3-1 Diamondbacks’ lead.

The Phillies got another one back in the fifth – on a sacrifice fly from Schierholtz – and should have evened the score an inning later.

With two outs in the sixth and John Mayberry Jr. dancing off second base, Kevin Frandsen roped a one-hopper into right field. Mayberry got the green light, rounded third and took a feet-first dive into the dish. Mayberry’s feet caught the plate, but umpire Jim Wolf didn’t see it that way. He called out Mayberry, on the tag from Arizona catcher Miguel Montero, to end the inning.

Replays showed that Mayberry got in before Montero’s tag.

Jeremy Horst, Rosenberg and Antonio Bastardo combined for four innings of shutout relief, with Josh Lindblom capping that streak by surrendering a ninth-inning second-deck homer to Jason Kubel. Still, the bullpen – largely – gave the Phillies a chance to recover after Kendrick’s three-run, four-inning stint.

Conversely, the Diamondbacks tried to hand the Phillies this game. Arizona pitchers walked three batters in Charlie Manuel’s hardly-patient lineup, plunked two more and seemed to give the home team every available opportunity to rally.

Instead, the Diamondbacks rolled along. Just like that pregame who’s-who video.